In general, wireless communication technology was developed to provide a wireless communication service, ensuring mobility for users. The wireless communication technology has reached a level at which high-speed data service as well as voice service can be supported.
Along with the development trend, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has been working on standardizing a future-generation wireless communication system, Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a technology that achieves a high-speed packet service at up to 100 Mbps.
Active discussion is underway to provide a new service based on LTE in a wireless communication system. One of technologies for providing a new LTE-based service is Machine To Machine/Machine Type Communication (M2M/MTC). M2M/MTC refers to communication between electronic devices or between a server and an electronic device over a wireless communication network.
When M2M/MTC was introduced, it was considered to be a concept applicable only to remote control or telematics service. That is, the market that was expected to be created from M2M/MTC was very limiting. However, the past few years have witnessed the soaring growth of M2M/MTC and thus M2M/MTC is attracting global interest as a promising market. That is, the M2M/MTC market is extended to car telematics, logistics, intelligent metering systems, remote asset management systems, Point Of Sales (POS) systems, and security-related fields.
An M2M/MTC device is characterized by its relatively low transmission power, compared to a legacy wireless terminal (hereinafter, referred to as a ‘high-power terminal’). In this context, the M2M/MTC device is referred to as a ‘low-power terminal’.
The purpose of using low-power terminals in the M2M/MTC technology is to widespread the M2M/MTC technology by reducing the price of an M2M/MTC communication module.
In view of the nature of M2M/MTC, low-power terminals are expected to often transmit uplink data when needed. Therefore, there exists a need for specifying a method for transmitting data to a Base Station (BS) on an RACH by a low-power terminal as is done by a high-power terminal in a 3GPP system.